Head coach Nicky Little admits keeping the lid on expectations is likely to be one of his hardest jobs after Canterbury Rugby Club’s flying start to the season.

The club’s 20-6 win at Redingensians on Saturday was their third in as many matches, putting them among the early pacesetters in National 2 South.

Little’s side have every chance of making it four from four when they host Southend at the Marine Travel Ground on Saturday (3pm) but the former Fijian international says he is certainly not getting carried away at this early stage.

Little said: “I can’t take it (the good start) away from the boys but no-one is counting chickens, least of all me.

“There are some people at the club saying ‘we’re going to do this and we’re going to do that’ but it doesn’t interest me.

“Maybe those people need targets in their heads to reinforce what they think but I don’t.
“Without disrespecting the sides we’ve played, they’ve not been up to the usual standard (of this division) and I’ve been telling the boys that there will be a couple of losses around the corner and it will be how we deal with those that will be important.”

Saturday’s visitors are captained by former Saracens forward Kris Chesney – a great mate of Little’s – and the Canterbury coach says he is prepared for a ‘dogfight.’

He added: “I don’t think it’s going to be pretty but they will give the boys a different sort of challenge than they faced so far.”

Little says he will continue with his squad rotation policy but will be forced into at least one enforced change after vice-captain Tom Burns took a bang on the head at Redingensians which is likely to keep him out for a couple of weeks